§ 605a — Mississippi River Forecasting Improvements

(1) The Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating, the Director of the United States Geological Survey, the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Director of the National Weather Service, as applicable, shall improve forecasting on the Mississippi River by— (A) updating forecasting technology deployed on the Mississippi River and its tributaries through— (i) the construction of additional automated river gages; (ii) the rehabilitation of existing automated and manual river gages; and (iii) the replacement of manual river gages with automated gages, as the Secretary determines to be necessary; (B) constructing additional sedimentation ranges on the Mississippi River and its tributaries; and (C) deploying additional automatic identification system base stations at river gage sites. (2) In carrying out this section, the Secretary shall prioritize the sections of the Mississippi River on which additional and more reliable information would have the greatest impact on maintaining navigation on the Mississippi River. (3) Not later than 1 year after June 10, 2014, the Secretary shall submit to Congress and make publicly available a report on the activities carried out by the Secretary under this section.